Jean Perrin

Jean-Baptiste Perrin (Known as "Jean Perrin")

Physical Chemist, Nobel Prize in Physics (1926), Proved Atomic Reality, Founder of CNRS

Born Sep 30, 1870

Lille, France

Passed Away Apr 17, 1942 New York City, United States

Lifespan 71 years old

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"The atomic theory has triumphed; what was once an ingenious hypothesis is now an undeniable physical reality."

Archival Overview

French physical chemist who won the 1926 Nobel Prize in Physics for his experimental proof of the discontinuous nature of matter (verifying Einstein's Brownian motion and determining Avogadro's constant), and founded the CNRS.

Biographical Record

Graduating from the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, Perrin proved that cathode rays carry negative electric charges (electrons). In 1908, conducting heroic microscopic experiments tracking gamboge emulsion particles undergoing Brownian motion, he experimentally validated Albert Einstein's 1905 statistical formulas.

Perrin calculated Avogadro's constant via multiple independent methods, definitively ending centuries of debate over whether atoms and molecules were real physical entities. In 1939, as Undersecretary of State for Scientific Research in Léon Blum's government, he founded the CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique).

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Rest in Peace Forever remembered and cherished Your legacy lives on in all of us With deep gratitude for your life and light

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Final Resting Place

Perpetual Memorial

Panthéon (Inducted in 1948 alongside Paul Langevin)
Paris, France

                         GPS: 48.8464, 2.3461                    

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